Charles Babbage, the 'grandfather of computing', designed a cumbersome calculating engine based on the Jacquard loom. Percy Ludgate's design was also based on the loom, but in most other respects differed from Babbage's machine. Where Babbage used columns of toothed discs to store numbers, for example, Ludgate opted for a simpler shuttle mechanism.

His mechanical computer had a mechanism for storing data, ways to input data and program the machine (using pre-punched 'formula' tape and/or keyboards), a printer and even an 'operating system', all of which Ludgate designed.

He calculated it would multiply two 20-digit numbers in under ten seconds, and take two minutes to determine the logarithm of a number. It could also be set to solve algebraic equations and geometric problems.

Ludgate envisaged it would be powered by an electrical motor, and the complete device - measuring about two feet in every direction - would be portable.